Jobs Australia 2014: Where are the jobs in South Australia?

South Australia has a relatively small workforce, representing only seven per cent of national employment. Employment rose by just 1.1 per cent, a significantly lower growth rate than the national average.

Furthermore, the state has recorded an unemployment rate of 6.7 per cent, above the national rate of six per cent. The high Australian dollar and weaker labour demand were factors here.

Employment in the state contracted by 9.6 per cent over the year to February 2014, its unemployment rate rising by 3.4 percentage points to 7.7 per cent.

Employment is concentrated in Adelaide, which employs three quarters of the state’s workforce. Employment in Adelaide grew slightly over the previous five years to November 2013 (4.4 per cent) while regional employment in South Australia declined by 0.4 per cent over the same period.

Workers in South Australia are slightly more likely to have post-school qualifications with two per cent more workers holding qualifications than the national average.

The report notes that 10 of 19 industries experienced jobs growth.

Notable changes from 2013 report:

Arts and recreation services was increasing by 27 per cent in the last report, however this has become a 22 per cent decline in the 2014 report.

The large growth rate in electricity, gas, water and waste services of 44 per cent last year has become a 17.5 per cent decline with this year’s report.

Public administration and safety was sitting at a decline of 4.2 per cent last year but this has boomed to 29.1 per cent in this latest report.

The strong decline in agriculture, forestry and fishing has seen figures move from a reduction of 19.3 per cent to 29 per cent.